LAS CRUCES - Doña Ana County sheriff’s deputies were called to a remote area of the desert south of Radium Springs after a 39-year-old El Paso woman became stuck in the desert with her two small children.

About 6:30 p.m. Friday, deputies were dispatched to a welfare check near County Road D053 and Del Rey Boulevard, just east of Interstate 25. When they arrived, they found Melissa Arroyos and her two children, ages 1 and 2, in their inoperable Chevy Trailblazer.

According to Arroyos, she was on her way to Santa Fe and decided to “take a shortcut through the desert,” a news release from sheriff's department stated. Deputies became suspicious that Arroyos was under the influence of alcohol, the release stated, and began a series of field sobriety tests, which she allegedly failed.

Her children were treated for dehydration and turned over to a family member, sheriff's said. Arroyos was arrested and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on charges of aggravated DWI and two counts of child abuse. She was released on her own recognizance the following day.

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